L'histoire
Monday, 15 December 2003 15:59![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
apollaI should warn you before I go any further that I am feeling very ill indeed from sitting on freezing train platforms/freezing trains for hours yesterday. This was compounded from having to write an essay about defamation. I ended up only writing 1000 words before going to sleep last night at 3 because I noticed I'd started seeing glittery blue spots and figured this wasn't good. Head feels seriously fuzzy and horrible. I feel slow and crap and it's ALL GNER's fault. I am not in class right now because of this shite-ness feeling.
That said, I feel I must say something about what happened yesterday. No, not the gas leak on the train line yesterday, the other thing.
It really fucks me off that, because some people opposed the war, it is automatically assumed that they liked Saddam Hussein or they in some way did not oppose his regime.
Let me put my opinion straight to you right now: Saddam Hussein was an evil dictator who should've been deposed years ago. Saddam is responsible for keeping an entire country paralysed with fear and so on. We know all this.
What I didn't like and could not get behind about the war was nothing to do with Saddam Hussein. It was the way in which the other side went about it. I have absolutely no problem with locking Saddam Hussein away and throwing away the key. I do have a problem with two of the most powerful men in the world ignoring the will of their own people (although as George W Bush isn't really president, why should he?) and lying to their own people. Frankly, I think the whole thing stinks and could've all been avoided if George W Bush's father hadn't chickened out a decade ago. Even then, as a small child watching the news and asking my dad questions I didn't understand why that war ended the way it did.
Oil. It's all about oil. That's why they didn't go after him last time and it's exactly why they did before. Please don't lets dress it up as some wonderful humanitarian effort to liberate the people of Iraq, because George and Tony don't give a rat's fucking arse about the people of Iraq. They care about money and oil is liquid money. Let's at least be honest about this.
If this war leads to true freedom for the people of Iraq, then yes, the price may well have been worth it. It is not the downfall of Saddam I ever minded- it was the lying to us, the blatant disregard for the feelings of the people who elected them (well, not George, but you know what I mean) and the international community. Right or wrong in the end, we were lied to and that is my problem.
That said, I'm only a rock and roll socialist, so what the fuck do I know?
One last thing, totally off-topic: It seems that the fabulous University of Sunderland is rejigging its internet system so that we can't use MSN and Y!M!!!!!!!!!! The fuckers! It is the only way I have of communicating with the vast majority of my friends, international or here in Britain. Don't they realise what a fuck-up that is? Take away the ability to use programs like Kazaa and WinMX, fine, but this is just NOT ON. At least I've only got a week before going home for Crimbo, but what about after that? I have to find a way around this.
That said, I feel I must say something about what happened yesterday. No, not the gas leak on the train line yesterday, the other thing.
It really fucks me off that, because some people opposed the war, it is automatically assumed that they liked Saddam Hussein or they in some way did not oppose his regime.
Let me put my opinion straight to you right now: Saddam Hussein was an evil dictator who should've been deposed years ago. Saddam is responsible for keeping an entire country paralysed with fear and so on. We know all this.
What I didn't like and could not get behind about the war was nothing to do with Saddam Hussein. It was the way in which the other side went about it. I have absolutely no problem with locking Saddam Hussein away and throwing away the key. I do have a problem with two of the most powerful men in the world ignoring the will of their own people (although as George W Bush isn't really president, why should he?) and lying to their own people. Frankly, I think the whole thing stinks and could've all been avoided if George W Bush's father hadn't chickened out a decade ago. Even then, as a small child watching the news and asking my dad questions I didn't understand why that war ended the way it did.
Oil. It's all about oil. That's why they didn't go after him last time and it's exactly why they did before. Please don't lets dress it up as some wonderful humanitarian effort to liberate the people of Iraq, because George and Tony don't give a rat's fucking arse about the people of Iraq. They care about money and oil is liquid money. Let's at least be honest about this.
If this war leads to true freedom for the people of Iraq, then yes, the price may well have been worth it. It is not the downfall of Saddam I ever minded- it was the lying to us, the blatant disregard for the feelings of the people who elected them (well, not George, but you know what I mean) and the international community. Right or wrong in the end, we were lied to and that is my problem.
That said, I'm only a rock and roll socialist, so what the fuck do I know?
One last thing, totally off-topic: It seems that the fabulous University of Sunderland is rejigging its internet system so that we can't use MSN and Y!M!!!!!!!!!! The fuckers! It is the only way I have of communicating with the vast majority of my friends, international or here in Britain. Don't they realise what a fuck-up that is? Take away the ability to use programs like Kazaa and WinMX, fine, but this is just NOT ON. At least I've only got a week before going home for Crimbo, but what about after that? I have to find a way around this.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-12-15 08:05 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-12-15 08:07 (UTC)I will look forward to the interesting stuff tomorrow.
Vis a vis the MSN/Y! thing, I was just on the blower to ITaCS who took my name and said they've had a bunch of people concerned about losing that stuff... so you could do the same if you want to make sure that they know how much this is going to fuck up our lives.
I am not spending the next few months not talking to my friends across the world, know what I mean?
no subject
Date: 2003-12-15 08:19 (UTC)There's a special number on the sheet that we got about it, so I could phone that up, or maybe the regular number. I thought I might write a story about how the big mean nasty Uni were cutting off MSN et al access, which would stop the poor, poor international students from contacting home. Of course, it requires me to do some work and stuff, so it's unlikely I'll follow up on it, but it was an idea. Of course, someone in the other group, or indeed our group, probably already has written such a story, so we'll see.
Might phone them up though. I think if they get enough complaints, they'll allow MSN and stuff at least.
no subject
Date: 2003-12-15 10:46 (UTC)Hope you're feeling better! *hugs*
no subject
Date: 2003-12-15 20:44 (UTC)